“These are locations where trees have been lost in the past due to storms or due to the Emerald Ash Borer,” said Tom Lind, landscape architect for the Park District.

The Illinois Department of Transportation contacted the district last summer to offer the donation — worth about $85,000 — and discuss how to use its leftover trees.

“We are very thankful to IDOT for thinking of us. Their donation not only includes the trees but also the labor and a period of aftercare,” Lind said.

The donated trees include a large number of native species and nine shade tree species: black maple, sugar maple, hackberry, American hop hornbeam, American sycamore, bur oak, red oak, swamp white oak and American Linden. The donation also includes four ornamental tree species: serviceberry, pagoda dogwood, thornless cockspur hawthorn and crabapple.